


Survive With Me

by CaptainDashingRapscallion



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Captivity, Gen, Human Experimentation, Young Charles, Young Charles and Erik, Young Erik
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-21 02:38:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3674301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainDashingRapscallion/pseuds/CaptainDashingRapscallion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another tumblr prompt I'm moving over to keep archived here. Featuring Young Charles and Erik meeting much earlier in life when they are 'recruited' at youth by Sebastian Shaw</p>
            </blockquote>





	Survive With Me

They say children are supposed to be innocent, carefree, happy. That is not the case of CFX0001 and EML0002.

Charles Francis Xavier had always been a sickly child. Prone to collapsing in fits of tremors, shouting for the voices to leave him alone. As he grew older the fits grew less frequent, but more violent. The suggestion of external voices never leaving him, and eventually in their despair his parents, Sharon and Brian, consulted a specialist. He called himself Dr. Klaus Schmidt and he explained that Charles would require extreme isolation if he ever hoped to get better. So his bags were packed and the boy was waved away by too-trusting folks and Charles Francis Xavier became CFX0001, the first of Schmidt’s children to be imprisoned on the continent.

His cell was lined with a strange metal that kept the voices away, much like the helmet Schmidt wore when he took Charles on his daily walk from the cell to his lab. The quiet unnerved the boy, was too much. He’d never been alone in his head before and he wasn’t sure he liked it much now.

But this was how life was now, and maybe one day there would be the opportunity for change, but until then he would wait and do nothing and let the adults think they knew best.

Erik Magnus Lehnsherr was a tough child. Used to being hated and feared by others, heckled in the streets for things he could not change. His anger burned inside him with a fierce fury that no one could match, and when it really ignited all the metal in the neighbourhood trembled under his grasp. Knives danced to the tune of his agony, sewing needles jittered to the stabs of his hurt. His parents, Edie and Jakob, did not know how to calm their boy, only wanted him to learn peace. When Klaus Schmidt came to their neighbourhood and whispered poisoned words of helping troubled youths find peace before they drowned in anger, they were persuaded to let him take their boy to heal. So he was bid goodbye with nothing but the clothes on his back and a chest full of anger and hurt and hate, and Erik Magnus Lehnsherr because EML0002, the second of Schmidt’s children.

His cell was made entirely of plastic and no matter how hard he raged he could not make it break or bend or tremble in his fury. He did not like the absence of the sense of metal thrumming through his veins, nor did he enjoy being encased in a prison he could not break. His only freedom was the journey to the labs, when Schmidt would escort him from his cell to the lab and he would be tested till he ached and could not see straight.

Erik did not believe in hope but he believed in himself and his ability to survive. He knew he only had to find out who 0001 was and then plan their escape.

For months the boys were isolated, kept apart from each other in order to foster their dependence on Schmidt. But then eventually CFX0001 required a test of his shields and so he was thrown unceremoniously into the cell of EML0002. The effect was immediate. He was hit by an onslaught of rage and pain and hurt and anger that left him quivering on the ground, curling in on himself as the other boy’s mind raged.

EML0002 had no idea how to react. So he began to hum a lullaby in his mind. A forgotten tune from his Mama before she had abandoned him to Schmidt. The singular focus, the quiet, let the other boy build his shields, encase his mind in protective wards to prevent the anger overwhelming him. Time passed, immeasurable to both youngsters, and eventually CFX0001 stood. EML0002 assessed his counterpart, noting the ‘1’ and what it meant, before taking in the shining blue eyes, filled with so much emotion for EML0002 despite his own suffering.

"Erik please. You should call yourself Erik. We’re not numbers, we’re children."

His voice sounded like it had once been beautiful but was now marred with hesitant words and a persistent rasp. Erik watched on coldly as he took his time to pursue clarity with the unfamiliar English words, but as he came to understand he began to feel for the first time in a long while something akin to hope, that maybe this boy could survive too.

"Nein." Erik shook his head and in his mind Charles found the words. _We’re not children. We’re experiments for Herr Doktor to do with as he pleases._

Charles shook his head in disagreement, believing them to be more than their current circumstances but he knew Erik would not be persuaded. So instead he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the metal rivulet that had fallen from his shoes on day one of his imprisonment. He had hidden it as a keepsake of his old life when his clothes had been taken and now it was a bargaining chip to get the boy to agree with him.

_Erik I have metal here. It’s not much but you can practice. And Schmidt will bring me here to test how well I can stand your mind. Maybe even if I can control your mind. And then one day, when we’re both strong, we can overpower him and leave._

_You think of yourself as a survivor. So survive with me._

And with that Charles flicked the metal rivulet into the corner of Erik’s room, before rubbing his temples at the headache he was getting from being in the cell with Erik for too long.

When his shields began to fracture and crumble and the storm of another’s mind battered his own raw, Charles clung to his hope that maybe one day he’d be more than CFX0001 and that EML0002 would become Erik and together they could escape Schmidt.

Together they could be children again.


End file.
